


The Taming of the Hamster

by ICanSeeClearlyNow



Series: Yuri On Ice Oneshots [7]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Gen, Happy Ending, Katsuki Yuuri has the patience of a saint, Katsuki Yuuri is So Done, No hamsters were harmed in the making of this story, Phichit likes Pokemon, Phichit's Hamster the escape artist, Phichit's Hungry Hamster, Pre-Canon, Tired Yuuri, college days
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 11:02:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12652290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ICanSeeClearlyNow/pseuds/ICanSeeClearlyNow
Summary: Poor tired Yuuri arrives back to their shared apartment.  Little did he know that the worst hamster had escaped ... again.





	The Taming of the Hamster

Yuuri opened the door to the apartment and pushed his suitcase through.  He was beyond exhausted.  Skate Canada had just finished, and he had taken the first available flight home so that he could catch up on the course work he had missed out on.  It was close to midnight and he had been skating only a few hours earlier. 

"Phichit, I'm back."  He turned to close the door.

"Yuuri!"  Phichit shouted, "Close the door quick, Pikachu has run away!"

"Huh?"  Yuuri's tired brain wondered why Phichit was shouting about Pokémon, but closed the door anyway.  Leaving his suitcase by the door to the apartment, he wandered into the living area where Phichit's voice had come from.  At first he couldn't see Phichit, but then he saw a hand on the back of the sofa.

"Phichit?"  Yuuri walked towards the sofa.

"Yuuri!  Thank god you're here." Phichit's face popped up over the back of the sofa.  Yuuri nearly laughed, his face was reddened and his hair was a complete mess.  "Pikachu decided that it would be fun to run away and hide, and I can't find him anywhere?"

"Oh him!  I thought you were talking Pokémon.”  Yuuri had fished the Demon Hamster out of the biscuits one too many times to care.  “He'll come back when he's hungry."  Yuuri yawned and moved off to the kitchen area to make some tea.

"Yuuriiii!  You’re meant to be my best friend.  How could you be so heartless?  You don't understand, do you have any idea of the statistics involving hamsters getting injured, or chewing through cables and electrocuting themselves, or getting stuck down the back of the fridge. Oh! I haven't looked there."  Yuuri just sighed and resigned himself to major removals until the little creature had been found.

"Can't you just leave a pile of food in the middle of the floor? He'll come out and get it sooner or later."  Yuuri yawned into the back of his hand.

"Yuuri."  Phichit was by now in the kitchen trying to pry off the footboards around the bottom of the kitchen units. "You don't," he puffed, "realise how small a gap they can get through."

“Phichit, I don’t even think there’s a gap there.”  Phichit finally pried the board loose and peered under the cupboard.

“Nothing.  My baby!” Yuuri gave another sigh.  It had been a very long day. He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.

“Where was he when he went missing?”

“In my room.  I looked everywhere and he wasn’t there!”

“Would you like me to have a look?”

“Please Yuuri.”  Phichit flung himself on Yuuri and sobbed.  “You’re my best friend Yuuri, what would I do without you?”

Yuuri manhandled a clingy Phichit to arms length, patted him and finished making his tea.  Holding the mug made his way slowly to Phichit’s room.  He opened the door, and closed the door.

“Phichit? What happened?”

Over the sounds of the fridge being moved out of it’s position, Phichit shouted, “Oh!  Er!  Yes!  Maybe don’t worry about it then.  I was a bit frantic earlier.”

Yuuri rested his forehead against Phichit’s closed door. How anyone could make that much mess was beyond him.  He opened the door again, just to check that he hadn’t hallucinated through tiredness.  Nope, he still couldn’t see the floor.  He closed the door again and this time banging his head against it gently several times.

“Yuuri?  Are you OK?”  Phichit had leaned around from the kitchen and was watching Yuuri with concern.

“Fine.  I’m fine.” Yuuri waved a hand in Phichit’s general direction.  “Just a little tired, you know skating all day, flight, etc.”

“Oh Yuuri, I’m really sorry.  I just got so worried about him.  I’ll do what you suggested and put some food out, you go to bed.”  Phichit left the fridge and came over to Yuuri.  Gently pushing him by the shoulder over to his room right next door to Phichit’s.  “Here’s your suitcase, don’t worry yourself.  I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

Yuuri sat down on the bed and ran a hand through his hair, right!  Better unpack a little, brush teeth and then blissful bed.  He emptied out his suitcase, put the magazine he had bought with a picture of Victor Nikiforov on the cover and an article inside all about the famous skater, on his bed to read and pushed the rest onto the floor - tomorrow, he’ll do it properly tomorrow.

He shuffled into the bathroom ignoring Phichit’s attempts to rearrange more furniture and softly call for the hamster.  Brushing his teeth he gave a huge yawn, and shuffling back into his room, collapsed face down on the bed.

Yuuri’s night was filled with vivid dreams.  He saw Victor Nikiforov’s face moving across the floor.  His head got oddly hot in one place and he woke up swearing that he had heard rustling noises all night.  He lay in bed for a bit and put his hand up to where he dreamt his head was hot.  Apart from his hair being really messy, there was nothing there.  Then he remembered, Phichit’s demon hamster.  Just, maybe he hadn’t been dreaming as much as he thought.  Hadn’t he left the magazine on the bed last night and gone to sleep on top of it?

Groaning, Yuuri sat up.  If that hamster had wrecked the magazine, Yuuri would … he would, probably just be a bit pissed off to be honest.  He fumbled for his glasses on the bedside table, knocking them onto the floor in the process.  Groaning again he slid out of bed onto the floor where he could feel around for them, acknowledging to himself that it would be easier to put the light on first, he just carried on fumbling until he found them.  Right, the light may be a good idea.  Blinking he looked around the floor for the magazine.  No sign of it, he wasn’t imagining it, he had definitely put the magazine on the bed last night before going to the bathroom, and no matter how tired he was he wouldn’t forget that.  He sat back down on the floor and then lay down.  From this angle he could see under every piece of furniture in the room.  Ah! Got you, you little devil.  Under the wardrobe, right at the back was a ball of paper that hadn’t been there when Yuuri left for Canada.  Deciding not to tackle the hamster by himself, Pikachu was a handful even on the best day, Yuuri went in search of Phichit.

Yuuri remembered with horror, the time when Phichit had tried to bring Pikachu with him to a lecture they shared as if he was a real Pokémon.  The demon hamster as Yuuri now thought of it, had, at first, settled in Phichit’s pocket, but then the student sitting in front of them in the lecture theatre had opened a bar of chocolate, not just any chocolate, but chocolate with nuts in.  Pikachu with his enhanced sense of smell noticed immediately.  Yuuri and Phichit, absorbed in the lecture only noticed when the student in front stiffened, looked down and then shrieked as if someone had been murdered.  They leapt out of their seat screaming “RAT!” and knocked the hamster to the floor.  

Phichit’s first reaction of course was to feel his now empty pocket and go pale.  Yuuri, who had frozen in the chaos, could do nothing as Phichit dived over the notes ledge in front of them head first to grab the hamster and stuff it back in his pocket whilst students from several rows around scattered.  It took a while for the lecturer to bring the room back to order, but she gave up when it was obvious no one was listening and dismissed them.  

These days, anytime Phichit even thought of doing anything similar, Yuuri just had to look at him over the rim of his glasses and Phichit would cave.

Yuuri threw on some clothes and grumpily left his room, he still hadn’t had enough sleep and that hamster had obviously disturbed him even more in the night.  If the demon hamster had eaten the magazine then Yuuri might just threaten to eat the hamster.

“Phichit!”  Yuuri knocked on Phichit’s door.  “I think I’ve found the dem… er, Pikachu.”

The door slowly opened and a hopeful face peered round.  Yuuri could see that Phichit had been upset overnight and his heart melted a bit.

“Do you want to come and see?”

Yuuri showed Phichit the ball of paper under the wardrobe.  “You said they can squeeze through tiny gaps, he must have come under the door.”  Phichit wasn’t listening and was just making stupid kissy noises.  Sure enough a whiskered face popped out of the paper and ran over to the seeds Phichit had in his hand.

Demon hamster safely back in his cage with his friends, Yuuri fished the ball out from under the wardrobe, and looked mournfully at the remnants of the magazine.

Later, after Phichit had bought Yuuri a new copy of his magazine, and sworn that Pikachu would be kept under lock and key forever after, Yuuri could look back with a laugh and talk about the taming of the hamster. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first thing I've written for NaNoWriMo that I actually feel worthy of publishing. I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
